Mary "Polly" Prewitt

"Mary 'Polly' Ford , b. 1776, Buckingham County, Virginia was captured by Indians.

Oct. 3, 1786 - McNitt and Ford Massacre

SEPTEMBER 8, 1899
A HISTORICAL EVENT
LONDON, KY
AUG, 30,1899
EDITOR ECHO.

Sir: I see a short piece clipped from a Cincinnati paper headed "London, Ky.
Aug. 24," which contains some grave errors which I feel it my duty to
correct. There is a place four miles of London on the South side of and near
Little Laurel, which has been known for many years as "The Defeated Camp."
Kentucky History gives it as the slaughter by Indians of a company of
immigrants lead by Mcknit, twenty-one were killed, but several men and women
made there escape. A report of the affair was carried to Crab Orchard
Station by two men who escaped and as soon as possible a company of men were
sent out to bury the dead and rescue those who had escaped the tomahawk.
When the company arrived the Indians were all gone and a few men and women
were killed. The company dug two graves efficient to hold the bodies and
placed the dead in these graves and than took the survivors to Crab Orchard
Station. This occurred in October 1786.

NOTES:

3. A legend persists that Polly did return and stay with her people (the whites); that she married a John Pruitt and had a family, that it was said she also had an Indian child, a girl. Madison County records report a marriage bond for a John Pruett and Polly Ford for 10 September 1805. This would be about 19 years after the capture. Her return was not before the death of her father, Peter Ford in 1801. Peter left his daughter 50 acres, should she ever return from captivity. The census records of Madison County lists a John Prewitt/Pruitt/Pruett from 1810 through 1830. By 1840, John is apparently deceased as Polly (Ford) Prewitt is listed as head of household, being between 50 and 60 years of age. Polly would have been but a child of about 8 years of age when captured. So, it would stand to reason that her Indian ways would tend to dominate her life style and would add credence to her return to her Indian husband as reported by Champ. Her child was actually a son, of the Miami War Chief "Little Turtle", and was called by the whites, "Indian Jack". After Polly married John Pruett/Prewitt, Indian Jack was adopted and renamed John Ford Prewitt.

He married Milly Green in Garrard County on 11 March 1823. They had one child, Elizabeth whose marriage to Sidney Warmouth has produced many descendants, some in present Madison County. John Ford "Indian Jack" Prewitt, walked away from home one day and is lost to history to this day.

"Polly's Story" is an interesting one, but time and space does not permit its inclusion in this publication. Work will be done to add her story in the next publication of Heritage Highlights. (These notes are as appeared in the Madison County Historical Society's Heritage Highlights publication Vol. 3, No. 2 Winter 1999.) Forrest Calico, History of Garrard County and Its Churches, 1947, pp. 196-197. Bill and Kathy Vockery, Madison County Kentucky Marriage Records Vol. I 1786 - 1822, 1993. Anna Joy (Munday) Hubble, Madison County Kentucky Census Records, 1810-1840. Bill and Kathy Vockery, Garrard Co., Kentucky Marriage Records 1797-1853, 1989. Michael A. Leaverton, Prewitt, Pruitt, Pruet, etc. - a Miami name, published in Indian by Blood II by Richard Pangburn, 1996. Jim McNitt, James McNitt & Kentucky's Worst Indian Massacre, excerpts from the original by V. V. McNitt, 1951.